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Monday, December 12, 2011

What the heck is a tech integration specialist?

When I was first asked about becoming a Tech Integration Specialist for the school district, I thought that could be an interesting challenge and adventure. However, when I thought about what I would be doing during the course of the day, I had no clue. So, like any librarian, I started doing some research. According to Edutopia, technology integration is the use of technology resources -- computers, digital cameras, CD-ROMs, software applications, the Internet, etc. -- in daily classroom practices, and in the management of a school...Technology integration is achieved when technology tools support the curricular goals, and help the students to effectively reach their goals. (I'll talk more about technology integration in another post.) Based on this description of technology integration, a technology integration specialist is someone who assists with technology integration. Of course to me, that definition meant as much to me as the definition of density (the quality of being dense). After some additional research, I found a better answer. Basically, the tech integration specialist assists teachers, staff and students with technology for class projects and school management. During the course of day, you might see a tech integration specialist assisting an administrator with the school Facebook page, teaching a class how to set up blog, providing one-on-one technology training with a teacher, showing a new tech tool to a teacher and presenting ideas on how they could use it in their class, researching more tools for generating vocabulary games, and more. I know as I continue to work as a Tech Integration Specialist, my understanding of the roles and responsibilities of this position will grow.